2021

Stafford House International

Online CELTA Trainee Handbook

teachertraining@staffordhouse.com
Tel: + 44 204 529 0845
Contents
Welcome ................................................................................................................................................................. 3
Preparing for the course ......................................................................................................................................... 3

Contact details ...................................................................................................................................................... 3

Technology ............................................................................................................................................................. 3
Assessment ............................................................................................................................................................. 4
Portfolio of Assessed Work..................................................................................................................................... 4
Teaching practice guidelines .................................................................................................................................. 4
TP Groups ........................................................................................................................................................... 4
TP Points ............................................................................................................................................................. 4
Teaching Materials ................................................................................................................................................. 5
What the tutors are looking for .............................................................................................................................. 5
At stage 1, the main challenges will be: ............................................................................................................. 5
At stage 2, the main challenges will also be: ...................................................................................................... 5
At stage 3, the main challenges will also be: ...................................................................................................... 6
At stage 4, the main challenges will also be: ...................................................................................................... 6
TP (Teaching Practice) Classes ................................................................................................................................ 6
Our levels are: .................................................................................................................................................... 6
TP Feedback ............................................................................................................................................................ 7
Unassessed TP ........................................................................................................................................................ 7
The Lesson Plan ...................................................................................................................................................... 8
We will use your Lesson Plan to decide the following: ...................................................................................... 8
Assessment guidelines ............................................................................................................................................ 8
Observations of experienced teachers ................................................................................................................... 9
Progress records and tutorials ................................................................................................................................ 9
Certificates .............................................................................................................................................................. 9
Advice ................................................................................................................................................................... 10
General ............................................................................................................................................................. 10
Assignments ..................................................................................................................................................... 10
Teaching Practice ............................................................................................................................................. 10
Absences .......................................................................................................................................................... 10
Withdrawals, deferrals, complaints, appeals ....................................................................................................... 11
Withdrawals ..................................................................................................................................................... 11
Deferrals ........................................................................................................................................................... 11

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 Complaints ....................................................................................................................................................... 11
Appeals ............................................................................................................................................................. 11
CELTA Glossary ..................................................................................................................................................... 12
Jobs and after the course ..................................................................................................................................... 13
Stafford House Teaching Certificates in Teaching Specialisms ............................................................................. 13
APPENDIX – Candidate Agreement ...................................................................................................................... 14

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Welcome

Welcome to Stafford House. We hope you are looking forward to starting your CELTA course. This handbook
will help you prepare for your course. This guide contains essential information that will be useful during your
studies with us so we recommend you read this carefully before you start your CELTA.

Preparing for the course

We have sent you the CELTA Pre-course Task. This is a self-study guide to introduce you to some of the areas
covered on the CELTA course and provide you with an opportunity to prepare for the course. You have also
been sent the Answer Key.

During your interview, we recommended that you buy a methodology and a grammar book before the course
starts. Books we recommend are:

Methodology (one of the following)

• Riddell, D - Teaching English as a Foreign Language (Teach Yourself) 2003

• Scrivener, J - Learning Teaching (Macmillan) 2011
• Harmer, J - How to Teach English (Longman) 2007
Grammar (one of the following)

• Penston, T - A Concise Grammar for English Language Teachers (TP Publications) 2005
• Murphy, R - English Grammar in Use (CUP) 2015
• Parrott, M - Grammar for English Language Teachers (CUP) 2010.
Note that newer or older editions of any of the recommended books are fine.

Contact details
Contact teachertraining@staffordhouse.com for any CELTA related issues.

Technology
Most importantly, you need a reliable internet connection and computer (not a phone/tablet) in
order to do the course. The computer will need a webcam. We also recommend a headset with
earphones and a microphone to make sound quality better, but this is not compulsory.

We use the following platforms/software and we recommend you familiarise yourself with them
before starting the course. They are all free. You do not need to be an IT expert to do the course, but
as we discussed at interview, you need to be comfortable using computers to do an online course.

1. Zoom – all classes and teaching practice takes place on Zoom. You can use a free account.
Please google/practise the following – how to put people into breakout rooms in Zoom, how
to share your screen, how to share computer sound.
2. ActivInspire – you are free to use PDFs or powerpoint etc when teaching on Zoom, but we
recommend you download the free version of ActivInspire to teach, as it has more
functionality than other presentation tools.

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 3. Google Drive – we will share course materials/books/PDFs/audio files etc with you on
Google Drive. You can easily set up a free account for this.

These are all easy programmes/apps to use, but there’s a lot of information to process in the first
day or two of the course, so we recommend that you get used to these before you begin.

We will also give you a log-in for Cambridge’s Moodle – a virtual learning environment where your
course portfolio and assessments will be stored.

Assessment

There are two modes of assessment:

• written assignments which relate directly to one or more topics
• Continuous assessment of teaching practice, which includes planning, teaching and self-
evaluation.

Portfolio of Assessed Work

The main document you will keep during the course is your portfolio. This is located on the
Cambridge Moodle – a virtual learning environment

1. CELTA 5 Record
2. Teaching Practice Lesson Documentation (lesson plans, self-evaluations, tutor feedback,
lesson materials)
3. Written Assignments (both first submissions and resubmissions, with tutor feedback)

Do NOT keep anything else in your portfolio. It is your responsibility to keep your portfolio up to date,
during the course.

Teaching practice guidelines

TP Groups

Candidates will be divided into teaching practice groups (TP Groups) of three to six trainees. You are
expected to work together with your colleagues in your TP group in a co-operative and professional
fashion. You will teach a group of volunteer students and you will teach at least two different levels.

TP Points

In the earlier teaching practice sessions your teaching practice tutor will give you plenty of guidance
about exactly what materials to use and how to exploit them in class. You should be aware of what your
colleagues in your TP group are teaching as your lessons could be related and you may need to support
each other and to avoid any overlaps. However, when you go on to teach your final lessons later in the
course, you will be expected to have developed sufficient expertise to be able to decide what to teach
yourself.

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Overall, you will be expected to teach a wide variety of different types of lessons during your teaching
practice: grammar, vocabulary, functions, listening, reading, speaking and writing, and integrating skills
lessons.

Teaching Materials
Everyone in your teaching practice group will be given access to teaching materials, including level-
appropriate students’ books and the accompanying teacher’s books and audio tracks.

Each lesson’s teaching points will normally be based on these materials. Students will not have the
materials in advance of lessons, so you will need to be prepared to share the materials with your
students during your lessons. Please make sure that all of your materials are properly sourced.

An important part of your teaching practice is assessing the material in the course book and deciding
when and how to adapt/replace it. As a result of this you may be encouraged to find other teaching
material and to create your own original activities.

What the tutors are looking for

More and more will be expected from you as the weeks go on. The following is a breakdown on what
the tutors will be working on with you each week. However, remember that by stage 2 will have to
focus on challenges from stage 1 and 2; at stage 3 you will have to focus on challenges from stages 1,
2 and 3; and by stage 4 you will have to focus on items from all 4 stages:

At stage 1, the main challenges will be:

1. The ability to manage the lesson and students.
2. The ability to establish a good rapport with the students.
3. Making your classroom language appropriately concise and clear.
4. Ensuring students understand your instructions and do the activity or task as intended.
5. Monitoring well, checking they are doing the activity correctly, and providing help if
necessary.
6. Giving feedback to activities, ensuring that students know the correct answers or get a chance
to share their ideas.
7. Ensuring the students work in the right interaction patterns for the activity.
8. Not finishing at an inappropriate moment in the lesson, or overrunning.
9. Being aware of your aims and attempting to meet them during your allocated time slot.

At stage 2, the main challenges will also be:

1. The ability to state your aims appropriately.

2. The ability to meet your basic aims.
3. Ensuring your lesson plans are reasonably clear and detailed.
4. Ensuring your materials and activities are appropriate to your aims and sequenced sensibly.
5. Using a variety of teaching resources effectively
6. Ensuring there is a good variety of activities and interaction patterns.

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 7. Explaining language with reasonable depth and clarity, ensuring that use, form and
pronunciation are covered.
8. Making use of clear and appropriate language models and contexts when explaining
language.
9. Using questions to elicit from students and check their understanding.

At stage 3, the main challenges will also be:

1. The ability to adapt to new levels and new students in the class.
2. The ability to state and meet your aims well.
3. Ensuring there is creativity and some experimentation in the activities you plan and
implement.
4. Ensuring your materials are without errors or spelling mistakes and look professional (with
sources).
5. Trying different techniques to explain/present language.
6. Incorporating correction of the students’ work and feedback to activities which is thorough
and varied.

At stage 4, the main challenges will also be:

1. Ensuring your lessons are planned competently and in detail.

2. The ability to choose aims that are realisable and appropriate to the students.
3. Ensuring the students clearly achieve the learning outcomes stated on your lesson plan

NB. All teaching practice criteria should be consistently met by the end of the course.

All Teaching Practice is graded according to the criteria in your CELTA 5 Record on Moodle. Each
criterion is explained in Appendix 1 of the CELTA 5 Record.

TP (Teaching Practice) Classes

We ensure that trainees gain experience of teaching students of different levels (e.g. elementary, pre-
intermediate, intermediate or upper-intermediate). Each teaching practice group of trainees will be
assigned to teach one specific level for the first half of the course and another level for the latter half of
the course. On many courses you may also teach a third level. At least one of your classes will be at
intermediate or below, and at least one at intermediate or above, to give you as wide a range of
experience as possible

Our levels are:

• General English Level A1 elementary

• General English Level A2 pre-intermediate
• General English Level B1 intermediate
• General English Level B2 upper-intermediate
• General English level C1 advanced

You will have two or three different tutors for your teaching practice, as you will change teaching
practice classes during the course when you move on to teach a different level. You may find that the
course tutors will differ in their opinions, teaching methods and practices. This is because, while all our
teachers may agree on basing teaching round a general communicative framework, they also have their

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own ideas about teaching, culled from their many years' experience. This variety of teaching experience
should be seen as a strong resource, which trainees should use in order to widen the scope of their
teaching.

TP Feedback
Critical, honest self-assessment is an essential component of the course. Even very experienced teachers
look critically at a lesson they have taught and find something that could have been done more
effectively. Bear in mind that there is probably no perfect lesson: circumstances beyond your control
such as low number of students, new arrivals in the class, equipment, etc., can alter the timing and
delivery of the best-planned lesson. A calm manner and a flexible approach are desirable qualities!

When other candidates are teaching, make notes to contribute to the feedback session. Even if you are
going to be teaching and feel nervous or preoccupied with your own lesson, you should observe the
other candidates teaching in the same session. You will obviously feel more relaxed on days when you
are not teaching but please don’t switch off! You will learn a great deal from watching your peers at
work and they will derive a great deal of benefit from your encouragement and constructive criticism.
Keep in mind you are also assessed on your contributions in feedback. Working on assignments or plans
while TP is happening is unacceptable.

Please be sensitive in your comments to others, as you will no doubt want others to be towards you,
but equally, don’t feel that you can only make positive comments. Honest feedback and discussion are
essential to this learning process. Although it is initially intimidating to have such a large audience, you
will soon get used to being observed. Experience shows that trainees who do their initial teaching
practice in this way are usually very supportive of one another – in fact, you may feel very lonely when
you start teaching on your own!

Unassessed TP
It is possible that you and your group will have to teach some unassessed lessons during the course.
This means that there will either be no tutor present or that your tutor will only be there to advise, or
also that another tutor will watch your group and give advice, but that the lessons will not be graded
and will not count towards your assessment. The reason for this is that the students you are teaching
will expect to attend a lesson regularly during the course and it is also to help you familiarise with the
students without the pressure of being assessed. Each candidate is only required to teach a minimum 6
hours of assessed lessons.

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The Lesson Plan
In order for us to be able to assess your lesson, we need to know what you intend to do, or rather,
what you intend the students to do. This is why you will be required to write lesson plans for every
lesson you teach. You will be required to email your lesson plan to your tutor before your teaching
practice.

We will use your Lesson Plan to decide the following:

o whether you have chosen appropriate global aims

o whether you have met your global aims
o whether specific parts of the lesson have met their aims
o whether students have achieved the learning outcomes
o whether you have been able to assess to what extent the students have achieved the
learning outcomes
o whether you have researched the language and are aware of possible problems or
difficulties, or other occurrences
o whether you have improved on your personal action points
o whether you are accounting for all the necessary stages needed to meet your aims,
including timing, interaction patterns, stage and incorporation of materials
o whether you are aware of what they should be doing and what you should be doing at
different stages in the lesson

You will receive a blank template from your tutors to use.

Please ensure that you follow Copyright Law and source all of your materials before photocopying for
your students. Always:

1. Assume that all material is copyrighted (unless the author/creator says it is free.)
2. Use a small portion of the whole work.
3. Give credit to the author.

Assessment guidelines
Assignments will be set at different times during the course to ensure the workload is spread evenly.
Deadlines are clearly shown on the timetable. There are detailed guidelines for each assignment and
assignment are explained by your tutors well in advance of each deadline.

▪ Each assignment must be handed in on time.

▪ Extensions will not be granted unless in exceptional circumstances, because any changes in
deadlines will affect and may coincide with other carefully planned deadlines.
▪ Assignments should be word-processed.
▪ They must be proofread. Spelling, punctuation and grammatical mistakes are not acceptable
and may be cause for resubmission.
▪ Please adhere to the word count of 750-1000 words per assignment.

You will have the chance to resubmit each assignment once, provided you kept to the deadlines. You
need to pass at least 3 assignments to pass the course. You need to submit all four assignments.

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As discussed at your interview, assignments should be your own work. If they are found to be written
(in whole or in part) by someone else or copied (in whole or in part) from someone else, that assignment
will be awarded a fail grade.

Observations of experienced teachers

You are required to watch a minimum of 6 hours of lessons taught by experienced teachers. This may
involve watching your tutors teach, and watching videos online. Please ensure that your CELTA 6 Record
of Attendance is completed each time your observe a lesson.

Progress records and tutorials

You will have at least two written progress records, and one individual face-to-face tutorial to discuss
your progress.

Stage One Progress Record: For this progress record, your tutor will complete the relevant tab on your
CELTA 5. You should read and reflect on this so that you can capitalise on any strengths, and improve
on any action points for the following week of the course.

Stage Two Progress Record/Individual tutorial: Your tutor will request that you read and complete the
‘You’ portions of the Stage Two Progress tab of your CELTA 5 about halfway through the course. Your
tutor will complete the Progress Record and give you a tutorial. You should come to the tutorial having
reflected on your strengths and action points and be ready to have an honest discussion about your
progress so far.

You will receive a mark for that stage of the course, which may be:

▪ Above standard for this stage of the course

▪ To standard for this stage of the course
▪ Not to standard for this stage and needs more work in order to pass the course

The aim of this tutorial is to let you know how you are doing so far and what the likely outcome is for
you if you continue to perform at the same level. You should also aim to demonstrate that you are
becoming more and more self-aware as far as your teaching is concerned.

Certificates
The week after the end of your course, you will receive an email from us telling you your provisional
grade, subject to Cambridge approval, and you may start applying for jobs right away. The school itself
cannot provide any further references or complete reference forms, but we will refer reference requests
to your course tutors directly if you wish.

If you are successful, your certificate will arrive from Cambridge between one and two months after the
end of the course. We will contact you when they arrive to verify the address you wish your certificate

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to be sent to (the postage charge is £10 for international postage). We will also give you a detailed
report on the outcome, which you may use as a reference

Possible CELTA Grades are Pass A, Pass B, and Pass. It is also possible to fail the course, in which case
you do not receive a certificate.

Advice
General

▪ Keep the CELTA 5 on Moodle up to date with TP dates/timings, signatures, observations, etc.
▪ Refer regularly to CELTA/TP timetable re. assignment submission dates, TP dates, location of
lesson observations, etc.
▪ Have a well-organised folder on your computer desktop for lesson plans etc.

Assignments

▪ Make a realistic timeframe of when to start each assignment

▪ Read the assignment criteria carefully underlining key elements
▪ Plan your assignment effectively, using appropriate techniques, e.g. mind-mapping
▪ Research appropriate resources and tests to support / include in your assignment
▪ Write a first draft relatively quickly
▪ Check your first draft carefully to make sure it covers all the criteria
▪ Proofread your first draft carefully for grammar, spelling, etc.
▪ Write a second draft, incorporating changes
▪ Proof read your second draft carefully
▪ Allow sufficient time to compile all elements of the assignment and hand in well before the
submission deadline
▪ For resubmissions: read tutor feedback carefully and ensure all points are addressed

Teaching Practice

▪ Allow sufficient preparation time for planning

▪ Chose and carefully word your main aims before you start planning the lesson.
▪ Plan around the aims
▪ Plan few activities. Don’t be over ambitious with how much you can cover in the time
allocated
▪ Prepare materials sufficiently in advance
▪ Take time after teaching to read tutor’s notes in detail
▪ Write your self-evaluation right after you finish teaching
▪ Take clear notes on tutor’s feedback on your lesson and on those of other trainees

Absences

▪ Any absence must be noted on the ‘Record of Attendance’ tab of your CELTA 5. We expect
100% attendance on the course. However, if you must absolutely miss your TP, you will need
to make up the time in order to obtain the certificate.
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 ▪ If you have to be absent from TP, you must notify your tutor as soon as possible as they will
have to arrange for someone to cover your teaching slot. Give them as much notice as
possible. It is unfair to expect them to prepare at short notice.
▪ Punctuality is ESSENTIAL. A teacher who arrives late to class is breaking school policy, as well
as being unprofessional.

Withdrawals, deferrals, complaints, appeals

Withdrawals

If a candidate attends the whole course but decides not to be assessed, the candidate should put this
in writing. If a candidate wishes to withdraw before the end of the course, the candidate should put this
in writing.

Deferrals

In truly exceptional circumstances and at the discretion of the centre, candidates may complete the
assessment requirements on a subsequent course. This will usually only be considered for serious
medical reasons, in which case the candidate must supply a medical certificate.

Candidates who have deferred may be integrated into a future course normally starting no later than
six months after the end of the original course. The centre shall consider how much of the course has
been completed, the candidate’s performance on the original course and the impact the break may
have on the final outcome. The level of support required will depend on the length of the gap between
start and completion of the course. Candidates should ensure they fully understand the possible
implications of deferring to a later course.

Complaints

1. Trainees are advised to first speak to one of their tutors or the Main Course Tutor for any issues
they may have during the course.
2. If a satisfactory solution cannot be found, this can be escalated to the school principal, via
teachertraining@staffordhouse.com. A full response should be received within 5 days of the
complaint.
3. Should candidates wish to register a formal complaint or appeal their result, they may do so in
writing to the teachertraining@staffordhouse.com. A tutor will go through the coursework with
the candidate, showing the evidence on which the grading decision was based. In their
discussion, tutors will refer to specific assessment criteria and to evidence from teaching
practice feedback and lesson plans in the candidate’s portfolio.

Appeals

If a candidate has been through all stages of the centre’s internal complaints procedure and remains
dissatisfied with the response regarding course provision and/or unhappy with their final result once it
is confirmed by Cambridge English, they may make an appeal to Cambridge English. In order to make
an appeal to Cambridge English, candidates must request the Cambridge English Teaching
Qualifications Stage One Appeal Form from their centre. Candidates must complete the form, detail the
concerns they have, and submit this to the centre. Once the centre has received a copy of the form, the
centre writes a response to the issues raised by the candidate and details any points which they wish to
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draw to the attention of Cambridge English. There is an administrative fee payable as part of the appeal
process, and the details of the fees payable can be found in the Cambridge English Teaching
Qualifications Stage One Appeal Form. Cambridge English must receive all requests for appeal via the
centre within two weeks of candidates receiving their final result. Please note that an appeal must be
made by the candidate and not by a third party. The candidate will be advised of the outcome of the
complaint, normally within twelve weeks of receipt of the formal complaint. The decision made by
Cambridge English Language Assessment regarding the outcome of the complaint is final.

CELTA Glossary
CCQs, CQs, Questions that we ask students (with short, often closed answers) to check that
(CONCEPT) CHECK they understand something, such as a new word, or a grammar concept. E.g.
QUESTIONS used to: Did he do this in the past? Regularly or just once? Does he do it now?
When a teacher gives an unnecessary commentary on what they are doing,
COMMENTATING usually just to fill silence. It can confuse students, who may assume that every
word the teacher says is important.
When you get the students to repeat a word, expression, sound or sentence
DRILL (DRILLING)
after you to improve their pronunciation.
When the teacher repeats what the student says (unnecessarily). This can
ECHO (ECHOING) discourage the students from listening to each other and sometimes reduce
students’ self-confidence.
Get the students to tell you something, rather than telling them yourself. E.g.
ELICIT
Eliciting a word the teacher has just defined for the students.
After students have been working on their own, in pairs or in groups, feedback
is when they tell the teacher and/or each other the results of their work. E.g.
FEEDBACK
After a grammar exercise, to check their answers, or after a small group
discussion to find out if the different groups reached the same conclusions.
GAP-FILL, CLOZE, A type of read and complete exercise, in which students have to put missing
SENTENCE words or expressions back into a text. E.g. What word is missing _____ this
COMPLETION sentence?
ACTIVITY
Used to ensure the students have understood what they should be doing
during an activity. Instruction checking can be done in many ways, eg by doing
INSTRUCTION one of the exercise questions together, demonstrating the task yourself, asking
CHECKING instruction check questions (ICQ’s) such as Do you work together or alone?
How many questions do you answer? Should you look at your partner’s
picture?
TTT TEACHER This refers to the time when the teacher is talking in class, and is often
TALKING TIME contrasted with…
STT STUDENT When the students are speaking, either in pairs, small groups or when
TALKING TIME presenting to the whole class or to the teacher.
Either:
TARGET
LANGUAGE (i) the specific grammar or vocabulary that the teacher wants the students to
learn in the lesson

(ii) the language that the students are trying to learn, i.e. English.

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 METALANGUAGE Metalanguage is language we use to describe language itself. It includes parts
of speech (adjective, noun), grammar words (morpheme, aspect) and also
words to describe language learning.
When the students are on their feet, moving about the classroom and talking
MINGLE ACTIVITIES to each other to perform a task the teacher has given them. E.g. Find
somebody who…(can play the guitar)
MONITORING While the students are working in pairs, groups or individually, the teacher
goes around the class to check that they are doing the task correctly. The
teacher may also give help to students who need/solicit it.
NOMINATING During the feedback, the teacher may nominate a different student to answer
each question. This ensures that everyone has a chance to participate and
avoids less confident students being side-lined.
L1 The student’s mother tongue. Often contrasted with ……..
L2 The language the students are trying to learn, i.e. English.
LEARNING What the students will gain from the lesson. What can they do with their
OUTCOMES English now that they couldn’t do when they arrived? E.g. By the end of the
lesson, the students will be able to use the past perfect tense in order to make
clear the sequence of events in a story.
When the interaction in the class is between the teacher and the students, not
LOCKSTEP between the students themselves, and the teacher is controlling the interaction.
Often associated with TTT.
PEER- When the students do it to each other, as opposed to the teacher doing it. E.g.
CORRECTION/LISTE When the students correct each other.
NING
Make language simpler so that lower level students can understand it. For
PITCH OR GRADE
example, removing complex words, idiomatic expressions or making sentences
LANGUAGE
shorter with only 1 or 2 clauses.
Real objects that we take in to the classroom to use in our lessons E.g. taking in
REALIA
clothes to teach vocabulary or photos of your family, etc.
An activity given to the students at the start of the lesson to get them speaking
WARMER
or using English before the main lesson task begins.

Jobs and after the course

We will keep in touch with you after the course and send you job opportunities, which we regularly
receive from employers. There is also a CELTA graduates Facebook page where we post job
opportunities. We’ll give you more information at the end of your course.

Stafford House Teaching Certificates in Teaching Specialisms

We offer four courses tailored to help you learn more about specific areas of teaching English. These
can help you specialise your teaching after the course and also help with your professional
development. These are: Teaching Young Learners and includes the Cambridge TKT:YL exam
(Teacher’s Knowledge Test: Young Learners). Teaching English for Academic Purposes, Teaching
Business English, and Teaching Exam Classes. For more information about these courses email
teachertraining@staffordhouse.com!
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APPENDIX – Candidate Agreement
CELTA Candidate Agreement
Please tick:
1. I understand the course structure and hours (whether full-time, part-time or
online). ____
2. I understand that course assessment is by means of written assignments and
teaching practice and this assessment is continuous throughout the course. ____
3. I understand that teaching practice starts at the beginning of the course (Day 2 of
the full-time course, Week 2 of the part-time course). ___
4. I understand that teaching practice feedback is both oral and written and that it
is important to be open to feedback in order to make progress on the course.
____
5. I understand that the workload is high, that lesson planning and assignment
writing will take place outside course hours and that I will need to have a
substantial amount of free time to complete the course, whether full-time, part-
time or onlinei. ____
6. I understand that many people find the course stressful and that I will need to
have strategies for coping with stress in place. ____
7. I understand that it is my responsibility to communicate to course staff any
mental or physical illnesses, family or personal circumstances or special
educational needs, preferably in advance of the course, so that appropriate
support and advice may be givenii.___
8. I understand that Stafford House has an equality policy that prohibits
discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment,
pregnancy, maternity, race (colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins),
sexual orientation, religion or belief, or because someone is married or in a civil
partnership. ___
9. I understand that 100% attendance is requirediii. ___
10. I understand that all written assignments should be my own original work and
that any plagiarism could lead to a fail grade. ___
11. I understand the possible grades available at the end of the courseiv. _____
12. I understand that it is possible to fail the course. ____
13. I understand that it will be necessary to have basic IT skills (ability to use internet
browsers, to open email attachments, to use word processors, printers and
media players and to complete basic functions such as copy, cut and paste) in
order to complete the course and poor IT skills can increase stress levels. (If I
have applied for CELTA Online, I realise that I will need my own computerv with a
reliable internet connection, and I will need to be comfortable working online
and that I have the motivation required for online study). ___

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 14. I understand that preparation for the course includes a pre-course task. ____
15. I understand that I should have a grammar book and a methodology book
available to me during the course and I know which titles are recommendedvi.
____
16. I understand that my place on the course is not secure until I have paid a £100
non-refundable deposit, I have read the payment terms and conditions on celta-
london.com/terms and I understand that no refunds are made on withdrawals
after the course has started, and I understand that any deferrals once the course
has started are made at full price (discounted/free deferrals may be allowed only
in very exceptional circumstances and are at the complete discretion of the
school). _____
17. I understand that full course fees are due 7 days before the first day of the
course. _______
18. I understand that to get the early bird discount the full course fees must be paid
21 days before. ______
19. An additional £10 will be charged after the course, if CELTA certificates are
required to be posted overseas to your address. _____

Signature:
Name:
Date:

i
You will need at least 80 hours during the course to complete lesson planning and assignment
writing. On an online course, additional time is needed to work your way through course
reading/units.
ii
We are happy to work with you on an individual support plan if this is necessary, but cannot do this
unless we have been given adequate preparation time in advance of the course
iii
In cases where 100% attendance is not possible, course content and assessments cannot be
skipped and will need to be made up fully before you can complete the course successfully – any
absences must be discussed with tutors
iv
There are four possible grades available at the end of the course – Pass A, Pass B, Pass and Fail. The
most common grade is Pass – the grade descriptors are available at
https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/teaching-english/teaching-qualifications/celta/about-the-celta-
course/
v
A phone or tablet will not allow you to fully participate in CELTA online – you will need a computer.
vi
We recommend this methodology book: Riddell, D - Teaching English as a Foreign Language (Teach
Yourself) 2003. You could also consider these alternatives: Scrivener, J - Learning Teaching
(Macmillan) 2011 or Harmer, J - How to Teach English (Longman) 2007.
We recommend this grammar book: Penston, T - A Concise Grammar for English Language Teachers
(TP Publications) 2005. You could also consider these alternatives: Murphy, R - English Grammar in
Use (CUP) 2015 or Parrott, M - Grammar for English Language Teachers (CUP) 2010. Note that
newer or older editions are fine.

15 updated 29/12/20